June 2011 Issue

The 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll

Americans are split down the middle on all-male clubs, the use of foreigners for customer support, and whether their own marriages could survive a Hollywood lifestyle.

Is the United States really a nation divided? Oh, we can get more specific than that: the United States is a nation divided equally. And on an insanely wide range of topics. How many of us don’t know how far we live from the nearest nuclear plant? Exactly 50 percent. Would launching another space shuttle be worth the cost to us in taxes? Maybe yes, maybe no—divided right down the middle, among the general populace. (Men are somewhat more inclined to say it’s worth it, and women to say it isn’t.) Half of Americans (well, 51 percent) don’t think they’d survive a Hollywood marriage (especially divorced or separated Americans—two-thirds of them are rather gloomy about the prospect). And the polling was practically equal on the question of whether Americans in need of customer support prefer to speak with a real person in a foreign country or with “a very competent American robot.” Republicans tilted more toward the native-assembled robot. (But while we’re at it: how about a competent real person in any country?)

There are a few notable exceptions in this month’s poll to the rampant evenhandedness, balance, and After-you-Alphonse-ing. We’d rather live out our senior years in the countryside. No hemming there. (And—to keep things perfectly equal—no hawing either.) And the single piece of mail Americans dread most is a jury summons. Hard to blame them: how would we ever reach a verdict?

The age at which people can legally drink in this country is 21, while the minimum age for joining the armed forces is 18. One result is that there are people fighting for this country who aren’t old enough to legally drink. Should the drinking age be lowered, should the age for serving in the military be raised, or should both be left as they are?

__ALL__
__18-29__
__30-44__
45-64
65+
Both should be 18
20%
27%
18%
19%
17%
Both should be 21
34
27
37
36
33
Both should stay as they are
42
43
42
42
45
To answer the questions yourself, visit the *60 Minutes* homepage at CBSNews.com.

__As far as you know, what is Reuters?__
Total
High school or less
Some college
College grad
A global news agency
42%
28%
40%
68%
A London investment bank
9
10
7
9
A private New Jersey college
6
6
7
5
A fast-food chain
5
5
8
1
A German airline
2
2
3
1
Don’t know
36
49
35
16
To answer the questions yourself, visit the *60 Minutes* homepage at CBSNews.com.